Putin’s Potential Actions Recall the Battle of Borodino, September 7, 1812  

Then: A Massive Slaughter where both Russia and France Lost the War.
Now: The Ukraine and Russia ditto!

The cry of war wafts through the media like forest fires raging out of control. Everywhere one turns, one hears in the media and from would-be pundits the cry of “Russia Invades Ukraine!” The truth may be better or worse,  depending on one’s perspective.

The fact that heavy artillery is being transported into the Ukraine by ‘lost Russian Paratroopers’ is fanciful,  yet compelling.  Putin is clearly disturbed by the events in the Ukraine in a way that he has not evidenced in any other potential conflagration including the civil war in Syria or the Islamic disruptions in Central Asia.  The Ukraine has touched, as the clairvoyant “idiot-savants”, both Bush jr and Condi Rice, pronounced on that fateful day decades ago, “we have seen Putin’s ‘inner  Russian soul’ and ‘it is basically good’.

Soul or no soul, Putin has recently erupted into a volcanic emotion of bravado, daring and war-mongering.  As America withdraws his financial viability and creates a cauldron of Kremlin discontent,  Putin retaliates by sending in ‘misplaced Russian Paratroopers who have lost their way’….. just like the pathetic little black sheep in the children’s nursery rhyme.

The problem for Putin from my point of view is quite simple.  Every Russian with a modicum of any education, in which I include the Ex-KGB/Stasi Agent, Putin, has read, if not memorized one of the great tomes of world literature—Count Leo Tolstoy’s War And Peace.  As for me, my mother insisted that I first listen to her read the different chapters in Russian when I was a school-boy,  then as I matured,  I began to study the various brilliant insights about war and peace that Tolstoy instilled in the fashion of an epic novel.

One of the most moving parts of the story is when Pierre, the central character of the book, decides to witness the infamous Battle of Borodino, in which Emperor Napoleon  invades Moscow and engages in the most costly battle of his ill-fated incursion into Russia. The Battle of Borodino was so bloody that Pierre was unable to say who was winning and who was losing.  All kinds of human desecrations were committed by both sides compelling Pierre to conclude that war was literally a ‘mad house’ of little, or no value.

In reality, that war involved over 250,000 combatants and incurred 70,000 casualties. As the Russian Army enters into the Ukraine by default or direct intention, the outcome will be the same. The Russian Federation will lose in more ways than it can imagine---financially, politically, morally, and culturally. Asserting one’s prerogative as a leader does not make for an effective function of a state or even comforts those bereft of benefits of the state.

Russia has too many elderly citizens who live on the border of poverty and too many young entrepreneurs whose primary interests are confined not to nationalism but to maintaining themselves as part of a growing consortium of millenials who seek closer and more enduring relationships with the outside world through the wonders and benign intricacies of the internet. The call of the New Russia is not nationalism nor the rise of a new Imperial Czar, be he a Putin or a Stalin.

Russia and the Ukraine beckons for greater integration in a world economy that knows no borders other than profit and loss, and friendships that cater not to national, ethnic or religious identities but to a community that I once called, some twenty years ago—CyberNations [Net Force Series].

It is to this greater transcendent goal that you, Putin, must strive.  The Ukraine in the old argot of the intelligence world is simply a ‘HONEY TRAP’ in which you will be seduced by your own images of perceived strength and fortitude; when in fact, you will see nothing more than a financial and political liability that can be easily resolved through diplomacy, not with America, but with your surrogate ‘father’ – the Germans.

Let not the Battle of Borodino inspire you to reverse history by your invasion of Ukraine as Napoleon had foolishly invaded your country.  Let the clarion calls of peace, negotiations and friendship bring you to a moment in history when you can one day be called a ‘True Russian Visionary and Revolutionary’. The Ukraine tragedy affords you, Putin, that opportunity. Don’t let it slip through your fingers. 

Use those skills of negotiating a fair gas treaty with Ukraine and a concerned approach to your Russian country men located in the Eastern Part of that country, but always remember that Russian History awaits your future actions as Leo Tolstoy had awaited the disaster that Napoleon created in the Battle of Borodino and then in the burning of Moscow.

History is your mistress, Putin. Don’t disappoint her!! She awaits your carefully planned seductive overtures!!
 

I have been thinking about this Ukraine situ, here is some background, will post soon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Borodino

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Warmongers who have destroyed Libya: Hillary Clinton; Susan Rice; Samantha  Power!

The recent article in the Huffington Post, by Eline Gordts, entitled ‘How Libya Became A Country On The Brink of Collapse’, August 26, 2014, describes in detail how a USA led invasion of Libya resulted in a complete imbroglio in Libya resulting in ‘2 parliaments and 2 prime ministers’.

Clearly, this is not a new revelation to the American people that an unnecessary invasion of a country like Libya, results in chaos and further destabilization of the North African region.  Ladies, you’ve come a long way baby to contradict the myth that women in charge of a country are less likely to initiate a war than a man. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Libya where the cry of ‘regime change’ against Qaddaffi was spoken loudest by our most pre-eminent Lady War Hawk, Sec State Hillary Clinton, who, like Senator McCain, never failed to fight a war she could never win. 

Replete with rationalizations, obfuscations and blatant lies, Hillary in her usual Machiavellian manner cries for ‘regime change, not only in Iraq, Afghanistan, but in Libya where a ‘tyrant’ who has helped America in its war on terrorism has to be ‘overthrown’ in the name of ‘democracy’.  However, thanks to the Sisterhood of Traveling War Mongers, including the well-known pacifists such as Ambassador Samantha ‘Mrs Genocide’ Power; as well as, Ambassador Susan ‘Sunday Morning Lies’ Rice, who both chimed in to the hysteria of demanding a war in Libya against the sagacious restraints of our military leaders, mainly Gen. Martin Dempsey and others.

As you know,  we went in there with all the armaments that we, the French and British could muster and blasted the ‘holy hell’ out of that country in the name of ‘preventing Genocide’ and installing “Democracy”.
What happened next?
Just like the Paul Wolfowitz-Rumsfeld-Cheney Phenomenon of ‘dumb and dumber’,  no one had the inclination or intelligence to even consider the post-invasion scenario.

We have embedded in our national security apparatus a civilian corps of ‘draft dodgers’ like Wolfowitz, Cheney, Bush Jr, Jeb,  Neocons and ‘liberal interventionists’—as well as women who have never been in combat and do not understand the dynamics of ‘mass killing’ and are completely ignorant by choice and inclination of any notion of nationstate building.

In my experience, I have never met a military officer who encouraged the use of force in any occasion without considering the consequences, the collateral damage and the post-war build out of that area or country that had been invaded.  We can see the effects on America of not having a President with any military experience in the past three decades.  Consequently,  Americans have witnessed more conflagrations in those thirty years than in the preceding thirty years. 

Such ignorance of war and war-making consequences constitute malpractice in EXECUTIVE ACTIONS.  Americans have not yet held any of our miscreant past leaders accountable for anything other than Bill Clinton’s Fellatio in the White House.  We have a White House, populated by ideologues who have never been to war or even understand the dynamics of warfare and it’s horrible consequences.

Like Bush jr and Obama,  they even have to lie about one or another reason for sending our warriors into Harm’s Way without ever understanding how a man/woman can be killed, maimed or mentally destroyed for no apparent reason other than a political whim that turned into a massive civilian lie.

So far,  Americans have been fortunate to have General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, who can and will veto most if not all actions, initiated by a novitiate group of women warmongers, like Hillary, Power, and Rice who fancy their inclinations for massive destruction of innocent civilians overseas to be in the best interest of America.

General Dempsey has taken on the mantle of what General Eisenhower had to do in both North Korea and Vietnam: stop the former war initiated by Truman; and, try to prevent the latter from spreading at the behest of the French Colonial regime in Indochina. My experience teaching at Ft McNair in Washington DC demonstrated to me that most military students understood all too well that starting a war was simple.  Any fool can do that.  Managing a war is far more complicated.  Ending a war is close to impossible.

I am afraid that once General Dempsey and his ilk leave our country’s service,  I do  not see a civilian leader who can be reigned in by the wisdom of our ‘soldier scholars’ or an old man who fought one too many battles in his life…. Me!! 

I see that the Sisterhood of Traveling Warmongers will arise like a phoenix and demand to sacrifice our men and women to wars that will eventually destroy the very core of our fighting military capacity.  I leave this warning to our future generals and admirals: caution is the better part of valor.

Here is some background on my next post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/26/libya-conflict_n_5711873.html?ir=Voces&m=true#

Thanks MIT!   John Hinkley was from a "very nice Texas family" who gave Geo HW Bush a lot of money.  Thank you wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley,_Jr.

Hinckley now gets lots of vists home with his parents.....he shot a president, no biggie.

President Francois Hollande Announced the Dissolution of the French Government:  A Political “Croque-Monsieur”… or “Quick Fix”!

I presume that many of you have been to France, especially Paris, where if you were in a hurry to get a ‘quick bite’, you would have ordered what the French call a ‘Croque Monsieur’.  Unlike the “Big Mac” which is primarily constructed on the foundations of discarded flesh parcels, often identified as “hamburger”, the Croque Monsieur is made of grilled cheese and ham. Usually the  most common form of cheese is “Gruyere” or “Emmental”.

Why so much attention to such a minute subject like the French sandwich? I have chosen the ‘Croque Monsieur’ to represent several different financial, political and cultural factors in the French Socialist System.

One simple statement from the Arnaud Montebourg,  the French Minister of Economy forced Hollande to fire him and the rest of his government.  I am sure you would love to know what the sentence was that caused such a stir…and here it is  “France is the eurozone’s second-biggest economy, the world’s fifth-greatest power, and it does not intend to align itself with excessive obsessions of Germany’s conservatives” [ thank George Friedman of Stratfor, August 25, 2014 for that quote].

Like the Croque-Monsieur this sentence seemed pretty basic. France would not accept the diktats of Germany’s financial auditors. However, this sentence was the ‘shot heard around the EU’ [sorry for the mixed metaphor];  wherein France is really expressing its basic discontent, discomfort and mistrust of the Germans.  Clearly, this confrontational attitude is not new to France nor to Germany.  In this particular case, what the French Finance Minister basically stated was that France is in serious economic trouble and cannot comply with the more ‘conservative’ [read ‘rational’] demands of the Frankfurt Central Bank for France to reign in it’s spending and eventually dissolve it’s socialist structure of government.

For us greedy Capitalists on this side of the ocean, we are not really surprised that Germany has been carrying France and the rest of ‘dead beat nations’ of Europe, including Italy, Spain, Portugal for a very long time and really has no further desire to continue to be the ‘economic engine’ of Europe. One year ago, I mentioned in one of my blogs that Angela Merkel had warned the EU that it could not and would not maintain a minimum growth rate that could support the rest of the EU.  She clearly stated that Germany’s 2-5 % growth would slow down considerably.

Now the future has become the present. The French Government has a hard time coming to terms with the reality of its failed Socialist Economy where taxes are prohibitive and earnings are standardized for all workers.  Let us not forget that any entrepreneurial company has very limited ability to fire inept or lazy workers because of the restrictive French Labor Laws.

What is left for France?

Very little, in fact. 

France should emulate the now defunct Italian state and declare itself as a  “failed state converted to a national museum”—to be visited by tourists and food connoisseurs who like it’s cheeses and wines… and fois de gras! From an economic point of view, I humbly attest to three important French contributions which may be exported:

Nuclear plants;  bottled water [maybe even Yogurt]; and rail road trains and engines.

That’s about it.

As for the French youth who have graduated from the elite French training academies,  I suggest that the USA make a concerted effort to recruit these talented individuals to come to the USA and become valued citizens.  They are perhaps the most efficient and most valued high frequency traders on Wall Street. In terms of electronics, mathematics and engineering,  the French elite stand out and should have a place in the USA.

As for the Airbus,  I loved being a passenger on it [Lufthansa 380 Airbus, cheaper than Air France] but as a viable commercial airline, I don’t think it can ever compete effectively against the Boeing 777 or 787, which is more economical and less burdensome to maintain and clear at the airport gates.

What we have left in France is the Croque Monsieur which is extremely filling if you are not eager to eat a full course meal….. and, you are in a hurry.  I am afraid that France better wake up and realize that it is in the process of becoming a major failed European State!!!  Socialism was an interesting concept on paper, but it really had no basis in reality.  Man’s greed will always dominate his increasing appetites for more and more. Unfortunately, France offers less and less. 

C’est Dommage!! It’s a pity. 

Tant Pis! Too bad!!!

  

The NEO CONS will reinvent themselves and try to "go to war" again,  hoping that we all forgot how they lied and schemed under Bush/Cheney to create a complete disaster in the middle east, saddle us with huge debt and maim thousands of VETs that we cannot care for properly.  Support General Martin Dempsey and his efforts to "hold off the hawks"...read here.
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/08/27/forgetting-cheneys-legacy-of-lies/

Israel and Pakistan: Doppelgangers!  Jewish/Muslim Identical Twins!

As I receive the constant entrails of vitriolic letters from ‘ex-friends’, ‘acquaintances’ and  so-called, “Jewish supporters of Israel”,  who found my comparison between Israel’s incessant bombing of Gaza’s innocent civilians as comparable to the Nazis Blitzkrieg “terror bombing” of  Guernica, ‘appalling’ , I began to realize that none of them really had any idea how the Zionist state came about.

I thought hard and long about this subject and came up with a profound insight.

Israel was created by the British at about the same time and for the same reason as Pakistan was.  Next I delved further into that insight and realized that both countries possessed nuclear weapons. The Israelis had close to 200 plus nuclear weapons and the Pakistanis had about 150 plus.  Both countries were continuously obsessed with fighting real, imaginary or more importantly,  self-created enemies, usually terrorist groups like Hamas for Israel and Haqqani Network for the Pakistanis.

There’s more.  Let’s not forget that both countries relied heavily on American military and CIA support and funding to the tune of 3.5 billon a year for Israel and 26 Billion for Pakistan over ten years [in order to bribe them to fight al-Qaeda].  Both countries are dependent on a military industrial complex and a political elite which controls, dominates and determines civilian life.

In effect, both countries have been in serious economic trouble with the mass majority of Israeli citizens unable to afford a normal standard of living .. .. similar to the Pakistanis. Both countries, live and die by the paranoia of self-created enemies: for Pakistan,  India’s sole existence is to exacerbate the nation state of Pakistan; for Israel, Palestine is there to justify the reified concept of ‘destruction of the state of Israel’.

Amazing parallels.

How and why could this happen?
I think that both countries have never really matured beyond the state of a primitive hostile ethnic tribal affiliation where survival at all expense was the sole mandate for development.  If one looks at the Israel research and development capabilities,  there is no question that they have developed many amazing technologies---UAV; desalination plants; internet tracking; and cyber security.  Pakistan has been less impressive in their scientific R & D programs, primarily revolving around Dr Kahn’s world-wide collusive enterprises in order to make a nuclear bomb with the help of the ‘saintly Benazir Bhutto’ and North Korea… and the CIA.

Where do these doppelganger’s –one Jewish and the other Sunni Muslim stand today?
At their current rate,  both countries are on a path of self-destruction. Wars do not progress civil societies.  In fact, both Judaic and Islamic Extremism will dominate the fate of both Pakistan and Israel;  and in my humble opinion will eventually seal their respective destinies into a ‘back to the future mode’ where civil society will be dominated by ersatz religious diktats.

However,  if there were wise men, or women, it would behoove both countries to officially recognize each other,  as General Musharraff had once desired years ago.  These countries need something called leadership for a peaceful and prosperous 21st century.  Such mutual recognition would work to establish a Muslim Jewish collaboration model for the future of both South Asia and the Middle East.  

Shalom and Inshallah! 

Gaza Bombing Atrocities by Israel is the new Guernica!  Today’s iconic evidence of horrifying violence is a return of the Nazi Blitzkrieg!

Congratulations Bibi and the Israeli War Cabinet.  In your infinite wisdom to attack innocent women, children and men in the four week military invasion of Gaza, you have collectively provided the world with the perfect 21st century image of Pablo Picasso’s Painting of ‘GUERNICA’!!!  Israel, the so-called “Jewish” state, has now rekindled the Nazi’s Blitzkrieg Doctrine of “Terror Bombing” developed on the principle of incessant bombing of innocent civilians in order to break their will to fight in Spain’s Guernica,  Poland’s Warsaw, and Holland’s Rotterdam.

Israel has even exceeded the number of bombing runs and tonnage of explosives dropped by the German Luftwaffe “Condor Legion” and Italian Fascist Aviazone Legionaria by a multiple factor of ten; making the Israeli devastation far more deadly than the Nazi’s OPERATION RUGEN over Guernica.  Currently the death toll by “Israeli mowing the lawn” is at least 2,100 Palestinians dead including 500 children with close to 200,000 homeless.   Let me quote to you from the indomitable Wikipedia [which I hope you all support] to give you a detailed idea of how many sorties and planes were used to kill approximately 1,654 innocent Basques and devastate a city of 7,000 people and the home of Basque Liberty.

The order to devastate Guernica was given under the Fascist General Francisco’s Franco Regime with the close collaboration of Condor Legion “Oberstleutnant”, Wolfram Freiherr von Ricthofen:

“Starting at once: A/88 and J/88 for free fighter bomb mission on the streets near Marquina-Guernica-Guerriciaz , VB/88 and Italians for the streets and the bridge[ including suburb] east of Gurenica. There we have to close the traffic, if we finally want a decision against personal and material of the enemy. Vigon agrees to move his troops for blocking all streets south of Guernica. If this succeeds, we will have trapped the enemy around Marquina.”  Accordingly the Wikipedia article goes onto discuss the cold brutality of how many fatalities could be calculated for each tonnage of bombs dropped.

Where is the moral outrage over the Guernica Redux in Gaza?

The world today will be witnessed to a new type of Guernica where the UN; the Catholic Pope Francis, with all his pretentious vacuous statements; and the EU, in all of its obsequious deference to Israel, have all, once again failed, to intervene into an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people unmatched since the original order by Ben Gurion to wipe out the Palestinians from Eretz Isreal in 1948.

This time around,  the USA has provided Israel with all the necessary incendiary weapons of destruction like the Hellfire Missiles, Mortar Shells, and a variety of ‘killing materials’ that have nothing to do with ‘defense’.  Accordingly,  Spain and England also came forth to arm Israel for its civilian massacre of the Palestinians.

I have very little to add to the impotent comments already expressed by all us witnesses to this atrocity, be he/she Muslim, Christian, Atheists, Jew, or Buddhist; or whatever. I failed to stop this carnage. Clearly, my frustration is loud and resonating throughout other more silent voices.

However, I have turned to one possible light for the future.

The next Pablo Picasso, perhaps a Palestinian, who will one day portray these Israeli days of atrocities committed in the name of ‘counter-terrorism’ as the new dawn of Peace brought about by the outrage of war refugees all over the world.  Normal citizens of any country can no longer believe in the antiquated notions of the nation-state which uses a corrupted sense of “national defense” as an excuse to murder or even worse, commit genocide.  The UN is now a sick joke and the inane pronouncements of religious leaders are impotent mumbles against the rocket fire and mayhem.  It is only within ourselves that we must find the desire for peace and good will towards others.  We can no longer bow our heads in reverence to a higher immoral authority; nor hold solemn remembrance of false narratives.  Let us stop these leaders in their constant drive to invoke one Guernica after another.

Proper Rules Regarding Hostage Rescue and Hostage Survival

[1] Keep Every SOF/Delta Assault SECRET!!.

[2] If You have been a hostage before—Don’t Try It Again!! [i.e James Foley]

Again and again, hostages have become the new human currency in the chaotic world of International Crises Management.  As you know from my former blogs,  I have become an advocate of ransom payments because they are the new reimbursement for those individuals who feel ‘compelled to tempt death’.  Remember:  no one is innocent in the world of terrorism and possible hostage taking.  Least of all,  the recently executed James Foley of New Hampshire, presumably a freelance journalist.  Mr Foley knew exactly what he was doing and what the consequences of his actions would be.

Lest you consider me cold hearted and callous,  let me present to you this revealing piece of evidence that has not been properly discussed in the hypocritical self-righteous media.  In the NYTimes article entitled, “Before Killing James Foley,  ISIS Demanded Ransom From U.S.”,  (posted earlier) written by Rukmini Callimachi, the following  most revealing paragraph appears about James Foley’s death wish:

“Across the ocean at his home in Cambridge, Mass, the chief executive of GlobalPost Mr. Balboni, reached for his Blackberry and had a TERRIBLE SENSE OF FOREBODING [my emphasis]: The email informing him of Mr Foley’s abduction was almost an exact replay of the horrors his staff had endured a year earlier when Foley was kidnapped with three others by Col. Muammar El Qaddafi’s forces in Libya.”

Let’s review what happened in Libya:
“We had joked that we needed to take away his (Foley’s) passport, Mr Balboni said Wednesday. “I don’t want to say it was deja vu but in a way it was…in one way I knew what was coming.” Not only did James Foley put himself purposefully in harms way but he also compromised Mr Balboni and the integrity of his journal and it’s financial viability.  Mr Balboni and countless other individuals spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours to rescue James Foley from Libya.  In return for their collective “good-will” Foley returned to the mundane job of being an editor for the journal (desk job) in Cambridge Mass. 

I maintain that James Foley was a “battle junkie” namely he had a mental health issue with which he did not want to deal with and he recklessly decided to go back into the nexus of war and chaos: Syria.  So its no surprise that he was taken hostage for a second time.

Foley and his kind are what we in the Counter-Terrorism world call jock sniffers.  Yes, it is pejorative but what he did to himself, his family, his colleagues and his country—particularly our Special Forces—was to create an unnecessary high value target who should have never been allowed into any more war zones, least of all Syria.

I have previously mentioned that I have travelled on my own into Syria without protection and without anyone’s blessings other than the Good Lord who sought fit to make sure that I was interrogated by the Syrian intelligence and the Ministry of Security.

However,  for reasons that I will not discuss here, as someone who had been involved professionally in counter-terrorism for over 30 years, I had the necessary skills to avoid being taken hostage.  I even taught a course for many years at the state department on how to avoid being taken hostage or if the situation did occur how to survive as a hostage.

Just like a physician, the state dept and military must be able to triage whom they can afford to save and who they must let go.  Needless to say, not every hostage deserves to be saved.  Unless that hostage is sponsored by a large organization that can afford to pay ransom then asking the USG to send in Intelligence Officers and Special Forces to save a potential hostage would bankrupt us and endanger the lives of others.

If for reasons unknown, James Foley worked for some organization other than the stated one, the triage applies doubly for any overseas operatives who have been taught how to avoid these types of precarious situations.

The next lesson of this Hostage Rescue is the one that the Anonymous Voices in the Pentagon muttered against the WHITE HOUSE:
Secret means secret NOT partial secret!  Once a potential terrorist group knows that ransom will not be paid they always prepare for a possible SOF seizure. Now the terrorist groups will “DOUBLE DOWN’ on everything they do.  Obama, the White House, and the SEALS have a proclivity for self-aggrandizement. 

As General Patton said A hero is someone who takes hostages not someone who becomes one.

And another article on the Foley Affair http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/middleeast/isis-pressed-for-ransom-before-killing-james-foley.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad

Background for my next post
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/middleeast/us-commandos-tried-to-rescue-foley-and-other-hostages.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad

Cambodia’s Financial Mainstay: The Textile Workers Protest Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Political “Repression and Low Wages”!

I occasionally write a blog that relates to issues that may not seem important in a world rife with headline grabbing tensions, conflagrations and instabilities. Such is the case with this post which attempts to address the concerns of my readers in Cambodia who have caught my attention with their recent political protests.

As I have mentioned in the past,  I had been involved in the 1991 Paris Peace Conference on Cambodia which officially ended Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia and as a result eventually installed Prime Minister Hun Sen as the leader of the Cambodian People’s Party.  Recently,  Hun Sen correctly criticized America for our ‘double standard and triple standards’ when it comes to Missouri’s handling of the Ferguson unrest.

(see article posted earlier by Khy Sovuthy)

Of course,  it would be easy for me to make all kind of pretentious pronouncements about the relatively autocratic rule of Hun Sen.  However,  I would offer to compare his handling of  “CPP’s disputed election victory as well as meager wages in the garment industry…. At least five workers were shot dead by military police…” to decades of Khmer Rouge/King Sihanouk’s dysfunctional tenure where millions of Cambodians were murdered.

Through kleptocracy,   Hun Sen brought limited foreign investments and the expert courting of China into a financial vortex that created a booming economy that could become one of the main textile manufacturers in ASEAN [Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanamar, et. al].  The issue for the Cambodian people is one that results from a concentration of wealth and power in a small group of elites which controls this textile industry through 600 factories spread over the country.  The garment industry in Cambodia amounts to 80% of its exports ($2.65B).

The average Cambodian garment worker made $80-$95 per month,  compared to Bangladesh which paid $38 per month and Vietnam which paid $89-$123 per month, making Cambodia a highly sought after manufacturing-export market.  However,  Sam Rainsy,  the leader of the anti-government Cambodia National Rescue Party has claimed electoral fraud and demanded the garment wages be raised to $160 per month.

Hun Sen conceded to give the workers $100 per month.  But Sam Rainsy and his cohorts demanded that 30,000 workers strike in the streets [accompanied by violence]. And they did.  Now,  Cambodia has what one would euphemistically call ‘political uncertainty’.  These labor strikes in the streets of Cambodia are a far cry from the auto genocide of the Khmer Rouge where 1.2 million Cambodians killed each other.  Caution should be taken on both sides of this political confrontation.  Allow Hun Sen to make certain concessions which workers should accept if they want to be competitive in the low wage world of global textile industries.

 

However,  when we appointed Hun Sen as the new leader of Cambodia, it was not intended that he become a deity or ruler for life. We had that nonsense with the French created Sihanouk Family.  It is now time for Hun Sen to step down and allow a younger, more enlightened Cambodian civilian to rule the country in the 21^st century.  We Americans have trained his son at West Point.  Yet, I would strongly hint that a military succession will not benefit the Hun Sen family … nor the Cambodian people.

I see this internal struggle as part of the normal growth process that all new nations have to pass through in order to become a viable  nation-state… whatever that form might take.  Remember, Cambodia, all you have to do is to look back at the history of the American Garment Industry in the 1900’s-1940’s till WWII broke out to see how America solved it’s own Garment/Textile Internal War.

Good luck, Cambodia!!  Please practice restraint and compromise …. On both sides!!!  

  

Great insight on the current state of the state
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/08/22/Exclusive-Ralph-Peters-on-Obama-s-Reign-of-Error-and-How-America-Lost-its-Way-in-the-War-Against-Jihad?utm_source=e_breitbart_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+August+22%2C+2014&utm_campaign=20140822_m121829561_Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+August+22%2C+2014&utm_term=More

Some background for my next post
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prime-minister-condemns-us%E2%80%88over-protests-67019/

The Imperial Presidency Has Returned: So Long Congress! Welcome Nixon Redux-President Obama!!

No historical truism is more accurate than the simple fact that history repeats itself, again and again.

Just as legislators decided to recess from their already non-existent jobs and careers,  Obama has quickly resumed the mantle of power and authority not seen since the days I worked for President Nixon in the very late 1970’s.  A statement wafted out of the White House ether concerning one simple phenomenon.  President Obama would resort to the ‘phone and pen’ in order to execute governance.  In other words,  Obama alone will decide what is good, bad, appropriate or inappropriate for the American citizens.  Gone is the historical or even hysterical notion that we are a country of ‘checks and balances’.

That myth immediately evaporated once the 103^rd Congress decided to work less,  attend fewer sessions and pose more ‘selfies’ rather than propose effective legislation.  I am not advocating anything other than the simple fact that ‘democracy’ suis generis, is at best a ‘fragile experiment’ at worst it is nothing but an illusion.  Before everyone starts the nonsensical rampage of ‘take back our country’ or ‘eliminate tyranny’, let me assure you good citizens of America that we are not really a ‘democracy’ wherein everyone can vote on every single issue that relates to welfare of the nation.

In fact,  for some time now, since the Bush Jr administrations and Obama’s tenure, nothing has become more clear to me than the fact that we are in fact a REPUBLIC.  A Republic has surrogates who supposedly represent our collective interests; but that is only true in theory.  In practice,  most of the legislators have been stripped of one of the most valuable tools of legislation –the line item budget- or the ability to ‘pork barrel’.  Without sounding a pejorative note,  the ability for a legislator to exchange favors from one person to another was and has been a very effective, if not somewhat distorted, element of our legislative process.

Once stripped of that mechanism, nothing was left to the legislators except to amplify their personality preferences, which for most legislators was self-aggrandizement and spouting nonsensical obstructive palaver, signifying nothing. That’s when an ambitious, smart individual like Nixon or Obama (who fits more of the isolated, intellectual personality type of Nixon than any other President I knew)—decides to fill the power vacuum.

And he does for the simple reason that he can.

Obama saw a long time ago the power vacuum in the legislative branch,  instead of trying to “Clintonize” it by spending countless, possibly fruitless hours, days and weeks caressing egos,  he went right of the legislative jugular- inactivity.

Right or wrong,  Obama proceeded to abrogate any powers that may have impeded his continuing rule as the leader of a REPUBLIC where the legislators absolved themselves from any responsibility other than collecting their ill-gotten gains.  The most important factor to remember right now, is that Obama is working within a twisted and contorted series of laws which may or may not be legal.  That is for history to determine.

For now I caution you all that President Obama, like President Nixon was not addressing his constituents at the time of his tenure.  Just as Nixon did,  President Obama is playing to the HISTORY BOOKS…. And that future narrative will decide where he stood in the pantheon of rulers of the American Republic for which we stand.  Remember your pledge of allegiance…. It is to the REPUBLIC!!
“and to the republic for which it stands” Obama is fulfilling his role as the new Imperial Leader! Like it or not!!! At least the pretense of the costly, massive narcissism , called ‘legislators’, has disappeared. 

   

I Have Never Been to Missouri…. but as Former Devotee of Agitation Propaganda [AgitProp],  I Know Ferguson, MO. Very Well!

Just as we saw the possible denouement of the Israel-Gaza conflict as well as the Ukrainian Borsht disaster, we are now privy to a minute-to-minute indepth report on past, present and potential riots in Ferguson,  Missouri.  By now everyone but the local police chief knows what has been happening in Ferguson, MO.  So I will not belabor the details of the ongoing tragedy that consumes every element of the dysfunctional Missouri state government.

I would, however, like to use this propitious occasion to illustrate some of the basic points that we former Agit Prop devotees have utilized in creating overseas havoc in various different unnamed countries:

[1] Make certain that the indigenous population is never adequately represented by the ruling security forces. White domination over blacks works; as does, black on black; or,  black on white.  The key element here is to pick a place where disproportionate representation of the ruling power must be in a minority position.

[2] Make certain that there is always a peaceful demonstration covering a ‘more lethal, nefarious’ force of ‘chaos’.  Be certain to sacrifice the innocent, well-intentioned protesters to the vitriolic needs of the riot-makers.

[3] Escalate the violence against the ruling party as quickly as possible.  Make certain that in a New York minute,  the agitation can escalate to the point of totally tying down the local, county and then state police.  With some perseverance and Molotov cocktails, stones, rocks, even sporadic gunshots—force the National Guard and, if you are really lucky, bring in the FBI and the Homeland Security Folks.

[4] Divide and Conquer the Bouillabaisse of conflicting security jurisdictions,  pitting local police forces against federal representatives.  Then with some tact, force the civilian police to fight with Military representatives and then pit that entire mess against the FBI,

[5] The more chefs brewing the mess called, ‘peace and order’, the greater the chances that there will be a break down of authority, command-and-control and  security.

[6] Last, but not least, always make certain to invite the major media representatives like Anderson Cooper,  Bill O’Reilly,  NY Times, Washington Post, et. al. If possible, try to have one of the media representatives arrested for whatever reason.  Nothing stirs the pot like a self-righteous representative of the media who has nothing more to do than wait around Ferguson,  hoping for more trouble to be precipitated.

[7] Always make certain that whatever messages are transmitted to the protestors are at best confusing if not completely distorted and mixed.  There should be no clarity of purpose or intention by any police officers to either the protestors or the security forces. Nothing beats the spontaneity of incompetence and lack of disciplined experience.

If you are thinking of entering a new profession like Agitation Propaganda,  please study the ten day coverage of the most deleteriously conducted police operation in the recent history of America.  Ferguson will no longer designate the name of a town…. It will mean a new kind of police mess.

When you create a ‘Ferguson’ that will mean that you should no longer be in Law Enforcement.  Please don’t go all-Ferguson on me for telling it like I see it!

Adios Americanos-- Policias!! 

  
 

Here is an interesting interactive map courtesy of NYTimes,  just click on your county to see what your police department has received from the fed gov't paid for by your tax dollars.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/15/us/surplus-military-equipment-map.html

The Incredible Americans:  Candidates Running for the Local County Commissions; Tax Collector’s Offices; State Senate; and School Boards.

Finally my faith in American democracy has been reaffirmed and even strengthened after having attended a local town meeting of prospective candidates running for different offices.  While it may be chic to discuss world events and the plight of the moribund US Congress,  nothing is more exhilarating to me than to watch a new generation of farmers, school teachers, CPAs, and small business men/women run for local offices in my town in northern Florida.

For decades I have held a spoken as well as an unspoken belief in one basic Sam Rayburn principle:

“All American politics is local.”

Last night I went to the city hall which was nothing more than a converted antique church and sat on a hard wooden bench to listen to more than a dozen different candidates---men, women, old, young, Hispanic, African American talk about one thing only:

How each and every one of them wanted to do the heavy lifting and take the risk of trying to represent me and the other hundreds of other citizens in our farming community.  There was no evidence of the well-known braggadocio or narcissism so typical of our national candidates,  instead I heard a very tempered series of presentations which began by explaining who they were; why they were running and what made them qualified for a particular job.  Most of the candidates stated that they were ‘christian’ but did not elaborate on their beliefs, simply stating that they believed in the ‘Christian tradition’ of helping others and being part of a community.  Many explained how they were born in the area and were extremely proud of the fact that their ancestors had been living there,  not one generation but for two to six generations.

Clearly for a refugee like myself that was very much of a pleasant surprise to realize that for the most part, throughout the world’s wars, famines, and troubles, most of the candidates were born in our area;  grew up in the area ; and when they served in the military or even went to graduate school, they came back to their roots. This was America at it’s finest.

The former teachers who wanted to run as a member of the school board did not boast about her/his achievements, but simply enumerated the numbers of years they had been teaching in different levels of the school systems and how they had learned the hard way to understand and deal with the inveterate problems of local public education. For the most part,  each of the candidates reiterated one promising theme—take charge of our local community needs; and don’t let Tallahassee, the state capital,  dictate the outcomes of the community.  The sad part was the fact that the hall was populated by more candidates than citizens of my local unincorporated town. What that said to me was that our candidates at the local level were more interested in building a civil society along the principles of decency,  equity,  progress and efficiency.

  As for the citizens of my town,  they will reap what they sow: indifference and stagnation.  That is AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY [Theodore Dreiser]!  As for me,  I became so exhilarated that I literally could not sleep that evening. But to have insomnia for an American Dream that to me is a great testimony to these INCREDIBLE AMERICANS. 

God Bless them and this local democracy that blossoms at a time when cynicism, selfies, and twitter diminish the commitment to hard working volunteers who have nothing to lose but their time,  effort and dreams.  In the long run,  local democracies will trump Washington DC and community involvement will supersede indifference and ennui.  I urge you all to get involved at the local level: in education/job training,  taxes,  future development and water usage.

I along with lots of others love John Oliver,  watch his take on Ferguson.
http://beforeitsnews.com/protests-demonstrations/2014/08/ferguson-john-oliver-video-report-nails-it-2454466.html?utm_campaign=&utm_content=beforeit39snews-verticalresponse&utm_medium=verticalresponse&utm_source=direct-b4in.info&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fb4in.info%2Fecqc

Thank you BIN!

This is a good start,  stop the commerce that rallies for a senseless war.  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/17/israeli-ship-remains-at-sea-thousands-protesters-gather

Putin Advancing into Ukraine While His Strategic Flanks and Rear are Completely Vulnerable!

Siberia is in the Process of Separating from the Russian Federation!!
 

For some time now,  we have known that Putin was a former KGB operative who operated like most intelligence officers—tactically and myopically.  While Putin has huffed and puffed his way into the Ukraine’s Little Red House,  he has forgotten that his most valuable asset: SIBERIA which has suddenly ignited with the separatist spirit.

Ironically while Putin was initiating a separatist movement in EASTERN UKRAINE  he inadvertently initiated a similar separatist desire admits the millions of Russians living in Siberia.

For most of us,  Siberia was known to the west as the basic barren landscape of the infamous Gulags where millions of political dissidents were imprisoned and tortured during the Stalin and post-Stalin eras.  However,  since the downfall of the Soviet Union,  Siberia has transformed into a Texas-style basin of Russian Oil and Gas. Without Siberia folded into Putin’s direct security control,  a newly independent or “Federalized Siberia” would have its own constitution, government and institutions.  Clearly, a Federalized Siberia would not be in the interests of Putin nor his Ex-KGB corrupt political cronies.

Almost all the major gas companies –Gazprom et. al. – derive their natural gas from Siberia. Unlike the Siberia of yesteryear,  today’s Siberia is quite progressive and modern.  It is so advanced in development that the indigenous leaders who have been calling for an Independent Siberia since the 1990’s  have initiated a very sophisticated internet/political campaign which has led to constant protest marches in Moscow.

One can easily imagine that Putin has done everything he can to repress these marches a la the American Ferguson MO police department method utilizing tear gas, suppression and unwarranted arrests.  Unfortunately, as I have repeatedly reiterated for the past ten or more years,  Putin has no strategic sense, unlike his illustrious nefarious mentors—Marcus Wolfe and Stalin.

In reality,  Putin is a sprinter who will exhaust himself and the Russian people in erratic tactical advances that garner much sound and fury but signify very little.  While he saps the patience and resources of the Russian people and country, he will find himself at the end of a rope from which he can literally hang himself or cut it.  That decision is his to make.
Given his intractable, ‘malignant narcissism’, and his need to prove himself in some imaginary world of combatants,  he will most probably lead Russia into a quagmire of such economic and social pain that his own past constructive legacy will have been completely destroyed with one more pathetic incursion into Ukraine, Georgia, or whatever contiguous country he deems to be a strategic threat.

In fact the real threat to Russia has now become Putin’s unrelenting ambitions to ape the past successes of his historical predecessors.  He might want to emulate Catherine the Great who had done more for the Slavs than any other subsequent Russian leaders or Czar.   However, Putin whose understanding of Russian history and culture is limited to the confines of a muzhik has forgotten that Catherine The Great was in fact not Russian but Prussian  … or what would be considered in today’s times: GERMAN!!!

Putin would be wise to understand that present day Germany under the indomitable Angela Merkel is not with Putin but with the Russian people against Putin.

Let me end this blog with the poetess,  Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
“LIGHT TOMORROW WITH TODAY!!” 

   

be posting a shortie soon, here's some background.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/05/russia-bans-siberia-independence-march-extremism-law

Washington Post reporter arrested while working in Ferguson Mo., what gives?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-ferguson-washington-post-reporter-wesley-lowery-gives-account-of-his-arrest/2014/08/13/0fe25c0e-2359-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html?hpid=z1

Thanks Barry Popik...."its the oil, stupid"  why Obama is Back in Iraq
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-12/real-reason-new-us-and-french-military-involvement-iraq

This is an older piece but worth listening to...Former Senator Bob Graham on 9/11 "I think its a massive cover-up"  "9/11 investigation should be re-opened"
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/senator-bob-graham-on-bush-saudi-911-coverup/52a88eaa78c90a42b700023e

Economic Sanctions Take a Bite Out of the Russian Soul!

“The First Cut Is the Deepest”,  a love song by the infamous British crooner Rod Stewart,  explains a basic principle of economic warfare---strike fast and hard and the enemies’ economy will be ‘severely hurt’. Unfortunately for the Russian people,  the economic sanctions instituted by the Obama administration then followed up by the Germany, France, 

England the rest of the EU, has had a significant economic impact on Russia as well as it’s erstwhile allies---Belarus, Ukraine [eastern],  and Kazakhstan. 

Recent Open Source Intelligence Reports [OSINT] like Stratfor report the following telltale signs of financial distress:

[1] Russia entering period of zero to negative economic growth. 

[2] Approximately $100Billion of capital outflow from major Russian businessmen and investors.

[3] Belarus, the closest Russian ally and will probably suffer the most from the economic sanctions. 

[4] Belarus is Russia’s largest export market amounting to $17 Billion in 2013.  Primary exports affected include vehicles [2.5 billion], dairy products [ 2.2 billion] and machinery [1.5 billion].

[5] In turn, Belarus receives all of its crude oil and natural gas from Russia. But in order to buy those precious commodities, Belarus needs subsidized loans from the Russian –dominated Eurasian Economic Community.  However, because of decrease Russian financial assistance, Belarus will have to seek recourse from the International Monetary Fund under the World Bank auspices [ a shadow agency for the USA]. 

[6] Kazakhstan’s main exports to Russia are ores [$1.5 billion], mineral fuels [$785 million], and iron steel [$773million]. It also exports its own crude oil and gas.

However, “Kazakhstan is heavily tied into Russia’s financial and banking system” [Stratfor, 8/10/ 14].

What does this mean for this very important Central Asian country that was once within the Communist Penumbra?

Kazakh’s TENGE [currency ] is tied directly to the Russian Ruble unlike the Belarus Ruble which floats according to world currency values.  So as the Russian Ruble goes down… so does the “Kazakh’s Tenge”. Without having done anything negative, other than to be associated with Russia, Kazakhstan has already lost 20% DEVALUATION.

What we are witnessing is the hidden war conducted by the spread of numbers all over the world which does not on the surface appear to kill anyone.  However, those numbers or electrons,  known as ‘economic warfare’ has a far more deadly strategic outcome than any military assault or weaponry.  Russia could experience at one and the same time, both external and internal disruptions that would threaten the economic,  political and psychological stability of the Russian Federation.

It is not a pleasant sight to watch an evolving economy like Russia’s implode because of Putin’s Foolhardy wasteful spending on the Sochi Olympics in order to garner some national pride. Was it really worth $51 Billion? Not from my perspective.

Is the Ukraine incursion worth billions more while the Russian economy is bleeding even more billions on an hourly basis?  

As in medicine and love, ‘the first cut is the deepest’ and inflicts the greatest damage.  Putin has not recovered from that infliction.  Instead he has spent an incredible amount of time, energy and resources trying to retaliate against a phantom enemy [capitalism] while having done nothing to redress the hemorrhaging wound.

As someone who helped to take down the Soviet Union [“Evil Empire” ala Reagan/Bush Sr],  I have no patience to witness the downfall of the Russian economy.  The Russians are a great people with an incredible culture.  As a people,  they have suffered more than any other country in defeating the Nazis and other Fascist systems.

The Russian people deserve a new leader who understands that the future of Russia is not tied to the parochial concerns and limited talent of an ex-KGB/Stasi agent named Vladimir Putin.  Putin’s grandiosity, self-absorbed entitlements and brash outbreaks of febrile utterances have compounded Russia’s failures and exposed its internal financial weaknesses that even we the bourgeois capitalists could never have dreamed of some thirty years ago.

Putin in his ill-timed,  poorly conceived concerns for my treasured Russian people reminds me of a statement that my favorite French Foreign Minister Charles Maurice Talleyrand Perigord made about one of his many mistresses-Madame De Stael [but I will change it to fit this particular occasion]:

“Putin is such a good friend and great leader of the Russian people that he would throw all the Russians into the Volga River,  watching them drown so that he could have the pleasure and glory of saving the very drowning that he had created”  Talleyrand understood the paradoxical nature of self-defeating grandiosity because although he was Napoleon’s trusted Foreign Minister,  Talleyrand had to ally himself with the dreaded enemy, the British, in order to end Napoleon’s Grand March to France’s self destruction. 

Take heed PUTIN!!
Russian Czar Alexander I defeated the WILD CORSICAN in order save France and Europe!!  Who knows who might have to defeat you in order to save Russia and the world economy?  Sacrificing your friends, Belarus and Kazakhstan, like the infamous courtesan Mdme De Stael,  is no way to treat your friends or remain in decent company.

 “Vsyovo Haroshovo!” All the best!!